How Coelacanths Have Evolved in the Last 1000 Years

Even though coelacanths have been called “dino-fish” or “living fossils,” they are still not immune to evolution. Believe it or not, coelacanths today are actually larger than those which lived millions of years ago, according to the fossilized specimen. Coelacanths today measure more or less three and a half times larger than they did before. Vertebrae or the backbone is also a marker of evolution, and changes have been found in modern coelacanths, as opposed to the softer structures theorized to be in extinct counterparts. Though some coelacanths have been found to have swim bladders which allow them to be able to control buoyancy, others have been found to be made of bone, a measure of adaptation.

These all simply mean that their preservation is of utmost importance. We have yet to fully grasp the evolutionary changes which took place in innumerable creatures. Preservation of the lives of these living fossils may help shed light on the gaps about facts which allowed sea creatures to walk on land, or mechanisms which allowed these deep sea fish to dwell with the predators. More importantly, it may help us answer the question why these fish managed to outlive their seemingly more competitive counterparts. The unknown is as deep as the ocean, but the coelacanth surely still has stories to tell.